Cambodia is home to the ancient city of Angkor, including the temple Angkor Wat.
Angkor was the capital region of the Khmer Empire in present-day Cambodia. Its monuments were built between roughly the 9th and 15th centuries, when Khmer rulers controlled large areas of mainland Southeast Asia. Angkor Wat, commissioned by King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century, was originally dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu before later becoming a Buddhist site.
The wider Angkor complex included temples, reservoirs, canals, roads, and settlements. Its water-management system helped support a large population, but scholars debate the relative importance of environmental pressures, political change, warfare, and infrastructure problems in the city’s gradual decline. Angkor Wat’s towers are designed to evoke Mount Meru, the sacred cosmic mountain in Hindu and Buddhist traditions. The Angkor archaeological park was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992, and Angkor Wat’s image appears on Cambodia’s national flag.